Early in the game with the Indians, Brush took advantage of the defense by moving the basketball and having players cut to the rim without the ball. That movement resulted in many drives for layups or fouls leading to free throws, helping Brush jump out to a 10-2 start. When Yuma cut the lead to three points at the end of the first quarter, the offense again picked up with players attacking the rim and being rewarded with points in the paint or free throws.

"I thought the guys executed the offense well," head coach Tyrone Whipple said. "I told them Yuma was going to come out and be aggressive, so we had to attack the basket."

Yuma would not be able to climb back in the game during the second half as Brush led the entire way by six or more points.

Advertisement

In the fourth quarter, the starting big men made a big difference for the Beetdiggers to close out the game. Seniors Noah Lechman and Aaron Nichols were finding each other on the offensive end and working together to create wide open jump shots and layups. The duo finished with 38 points and 17 rebounds combined, and Lechman also had six assists, most coming in the fourth quarter with Nichols.

"We know where we both are going to be and we can get the ball to each other," Lechman said. "When we're on, we can play inside-out. When the defense collapses in, that also gives our guards open shots."

A trio of guards was able to score as a result of that inside-out game for Brush. Junior Trent Mount was the third player in double figures with 11 points, senior BJ Hirschfeld added five, and sophomore Ryan Dunker had four.

Whipple also gave credit to Dunker for his performance in the win over Yuma, saying he has stepped into a big role for the team's success. He led the team with eight assists and got to the free throw line five times as well.

"I think Ryan Dunker is really growing up," Whipple said. "He's really turned into a general on the court for us."

Brush improves to 8-10 overall on the season with the win over Yuma. The team has one more game remaining on the schedule, a road trip to Valley. In the second meeting, the Beetdiggers say they will look to take away the easy points the Vikings were able to score in the first game, a 63-55 win on Jan. 15.

"They ran on us, got out in transition and cherry picked on us sometimes," Lechman said. "We have to get back on defense, as well as take care of the ball and attack the basket like we did tonight."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.